In Public
by Shedemei
Summary: Lin and Korra go on a date in public for the first time, although Lin has more than a few misgivings. Slightly fluffy Linorra.


In Public

Summary: Lin and Korra go on a date in public for the first time. Linorra.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Pairings: Korra/Lin ("Linorra", "Korralin")

Author's Notes: My muses, being the unpredictable shits they are, won't let me work on anything longer without working on this first.

* * *

_This really isn't necessary, _Lin couldn't help but think as she and Korra walked up to the hostess' desk. _I suppose she can't know it, but we don't have to be in public for her to leave me. _She tightened her grip on lover's waist, knowing it would likely be the last time she would have her arm around Korra, and was surprised to feel Korra give her a little squeeze in return.

Then they were following the hostess to a table; Korra must have spoken to her while Lin wasn't paying attention. Lin said some cursory polite thing to the hostess as she left them at the table. Korra was already sitting down and examining the menu. "You said you've been here before, right? What's good here?"

"Only once, and I don't remember it very well." Lin flipped open the menu and pretended to examine it. She wasn't especially hungry. It had been a long time since stress or anxiety had made her throw up, so she wasn't overly concerned about that happening, but she still didn't feel like eating.

"Ooh, lentil fritters breaded with fire flakes? That sounds good. But ten patties is a lot…you want to split it?"

Lin sniffed. "You could probably eat ten, but that sounds fine. I'm quite partial to fire flakes. When my mother wanted to punish me, she wouldn't let me eat fire flakes for a week."

Korra laughed. "Oooh, there's milk tea! And they have carob! I'm glad I convinced you to come here."

Lin made an attempt at smiling that she was sure looked pained, since that last sentence made it feel like a bat-vulture's claw had closed around her heart. They waited in silence for a short while until the waiter showed up and took their order. Lin had to talk herself out of ordering something very alcoholic, but she had an unopened bottle of _sake _at home; while she wasn't ordinarily a heavy drinker, she had bought the _sake _the week Korra first asked her out in anticipation of what was about to happen.

Except Korra wasn't bringing it up. She was quiet and fidgeting nervously, clearly wanting to spit it out but unable to muster the courage.

"Korra, honey?" It was going to be hard to stop adding that second word; in Lin's head, it was almost like Korra's name was Korra Honey, with capital letters. Korra had been surprised when Lin started referring to her with a pet name, as she hadn't thought Lin was "the type" to use pet names. Korra was right; Lin had never used an affectionate nickname with any of her previous romantic partners, but somehow it had felt natural with Korra.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever had a rumor spread about you?"

"I don't think so." Korra considered that. Lin studied the thought lines in her face. Korra definitely had a designated thinking/concentrating face that Lin saw every time she focused intensely on something, usually metalbending. Lin sometimes teased her playfully about it, asking if Tenzin had ever seen that expression in response to Korra whining about how tiresome she found airbending lessons. "Why? Did you hear one about me?"

"No, but I've had a few circulating about me. Some of which I actually encouraged."

"Really?" Korra's eyebrows shot up. Her face was very expressive, and even surprised, she was lovely. Lin quashed the sudden urge to cry by telling herself it wasn't as if she'd never see Korra again.

"You've probably heard that I unleashed a path of wanton distraction on Air Temple Island after Tenzin broke up with me."

Korra snickered. Lin couldn't tell if it was a sincere snicker or a forced one. "Yep, I heard that one! Wait…it wasn't true?"

"I encouraged it because I thought it was funny, even up until very recently. And I'm not pretending I didn't consider it. But…Air Temple Island is one of only _five _existing Air Temples. And Uncle Aang built it."

Korra mulled that over for a while. "So…what did you do?"

"Mostly just screamed at Tenzin, and only the once. After that, there was some alcohol involved, but no destruction."

"Huh. Okay." The silence hung heavy. Lin looked down at her hands, twisted in her lap. Surely that had been enough to convince Korra that Lin wasn't going to make a scene; if Korra could just spit it out, they could quietly go their separate ways and the churning in Lin's stomach would go away. "So…are you mad about that rumor?"

Lin shrugged. "I'm none too pleased. But there's no undoing it." _As long as you aren't afraid to leave anymore. Our relationship definitely wasn't healthy if you can't end it without being scared._

"Hey, Lin, is everything okay? I know you were a little bow-shy about us being seen together in public. You're not worried about people talking, are you?"

"I can honestly say that is the least of my worries right now."

"Well…I'm glad you said it was okay."

Lin couldn't think of anything to say to that, so she poured herself a cup of the buckwheat tea the waiter had brought when he took their order. Korra followed suit, looking relieved to not have to continue the conversation. She had been distant for the past few weeks, always finding excuses not to spend time with Lin and being closed down and quiet when they were together. The invitation to the Crimson Tiger Palace had come completely out of nowhere, and Korra had given Lin some weak excuse about how she had wanted to ask Lin to go on a public date for a while but was nervous about it because she couldn't really afford it. _I shouldn't have said anything, _Lin thought bitterly for the hundredth time.

The last time she and Korra had spent time together and it felt happy and natural had consisted of a long metalbending training session followed by a bath (not together, of course, but Korra had been pleasantly surprised by Lin's understated feminine side when it came to personal hygiene, and had emerged from the bathroom wearing a giant grin and smelling of about five different high-end soaps and body oils). Korra had used waterbending to quickly dry hers and Lin's hair, and then they had spent a long, long time—more time than they had spent practicing bending—cuddling on the couch in Lin's den. And after some wheedling (and a bit of whining) from Korra, Lin had consented to what ended up being an incredibly relaxing back massage. Lulled into a state of almost dreamy contentment, Lin had returned the favor, learning the contours of Korra's back with her palms and even kissing Korra's neck and shoulders. When evening fell, Korra hadn't wanted to leave and had promised not to try any "funny business"—Lin had been very clear at the beginning of their relationship: no sex until Korra was a bit older—if Lin would let her sleep over. But they had told no one about the nature of their relationship and Lin didn't want Tenzin to get suspicious, so she had sent Korra home. But as a conciliatory measure, she had given Korra a long hug and kiss at the door and sent her off with "Good night, Korra, honey. I love you." It had been the first time she had said the "three deadly words" to Korra, and Korra hadn't said them to her yet either. It was after that that Korra had started avoiding her.

At least when Tenzin had left, he had had someone else to go to. Korra was distancing herself from Lin because she couldn't deal with Lin having such serious feelings for her. At least that seemed to be the case; it didn't seem like Korra had suddenly fallen for somebody else, she and Lin hadn't fought, and before that night Lin had stopped watching her mouth, Korra hadn't been distant; she'd been almost clingy. Lin was suddenly glad that they hadn't gone any farther than a fully clothed back massage, since Korra had been hinting more and more that she wasn't happy with Lin's insistence that they wait to sleep together until Korra was a little older. "I know you're a total cop, but I'm legally of age," Korra had said multiple times. At one point, that had been followed by "Don't look so surprised! You're beautiful. You're beautiful and I like you."

Lin found herself massaging one of her temples even though she knew Korra could see. That should have been her first clue that Korra's feelings for her were a brief but intense teenage crush. Lin knew what she looked like, in part thanks to the sadistic design choices of whoever was in charge of the décor of the Crimson Tiger Palace and had put mirrors at every table. She turned her head slightly to get a glimpse of herself: sharp cheekbones, graying hair, a small upturned nose that didn't look like it belonged on the same face with her too-strong jaw lines. The scars, at least, were interesting. She wouldn't call herself ugly, certainly, but Korra was quite misguided when referring to her as "beautiful". When she was younger, she had been able to pass for cute, but mostly was seen as plain or funny-looking. She'd actually been glad when her hair started graying from the stress of police work when she was in her thirties; at least she would look more distinguished. Before that, she had never cared much about her appearance as long as the suspect in interrogation saw her as intimidating. But now, abruptly forced to care as she looked at the reflection of herself sitting across from Korra, she couldn't help but think that "distinguished" or "interesting" wasn't likely to keep the attention of a talented, vivacious, unique, beautiful…

"Hey, Lin?"

Lin could have sworn she felt the bottom of her stomach drop out. "Yes, honey?" _I'll never get to call her that again. _

Korra bit her lower lip (she looked adorable when she did that). "There's, um. There's a reason I asked you out tonight. Something I want to tell you."

Lin closed her eyes and tilted her head down in a sort of half-nod. "I know."

"Really?" Korra's voice was filled with relief.

"Yes. You don't have to tell me." Still unable to look at Korra's face, Lin stood up to take enough money from her purse to cover their meal and the tip. She placed it in the center of the table. "That should be enough." She cleared her throat, praying that her voice wasn't betraying how close she was to crying. "I'll see you around. Or I won't, if that's too awkward for you. Either way, take care of yourself." Every cell in Lin's brain was screaming to reach out and squeeze Korra's shoulder one last time or maybe kiss her forehead. But if Korra wanted her gone, she would go, not to mention that bottle of _sake _was sounding better by the minute. She shouldered her purse and headed for the door, jaw set.

How had it come to this? When Korra had ended a metalbending lesson by catching Lin's arm and nervously blurting out a truly incredible amount of information for one breath, Lin had been surprised to hear that the summary of that information was "I like you, will you be my girlfriend?". Her response had been "well, why not?". Korra was cute and—when she wasn't being infuriating—actually somewhat charming in her own clumsy, headstrong way. And Lin had certainly been tempted by the idea of getting to kiss one more beautiful woman before spending the rest of her life married to her work. Somehow "well, why not?" had turned into falling for Korra so hard it felt like she had broken several bones, and Lin still couldn't figure out exactly when that fall had happened, only that at the moment it seemed quite stupid.

Rapid footfalls and a shout of "Lin, hang on, wait!", broke her reverie and Korra's hand fell on her shoulder. She blinked and reality came swimming back into vision; she had barely made it a few feet.

"Let's not drag this out," Lin sighed. She turned to face Korra, but kept her head inclined. Being a master bender required an incredible amount of self-control, but Lin knew perfectly well that if she looked at Korra's face, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from crying. Her eyes were already starting to grow hot with burgeoning tears.

"Where are you going?" Korra demanded, planting her hands firmly on Lin's shoulders.

"Home."

"Why!? I said I wanted to tell you something!" Korra moved one hand to Lin's face and tried to tilt her chin up; Lin moved away.

"And I knew perfectly well you only asked me here because you wanted to break up with me without worrying about me making a scene."

Korra threw her arms around Lin and pressed her face into Lin's neck. "No, I didn't, I swear! Please don't go. Please."

Lin issued a command to her arms to wrap around Korra, but they were already there, squeezing her tightly. "Then why did you bring me here? You've lost interest in spending any time with me, you've been distant…"

"To get the mood right. I couldn't say it back to you, but I wished I could. I'm sorry I was such a chicken-lizard. I thought maybe if we went out somewhere nice, had a candlelit dinner and all that romantic stuff, I'd finally be able to say it back."

Lin pressed her face into Korra's hair, now unable to stop herself from crying. "Say what back?"

"Lin, I love you!"

Lin could have sworn her heart stopped beating for a few seconds. "You…what?"

"I love you. It's such a relief to say it. I couldn't spit it out before. I know I've been weird the last few days, I'm sorry, please don't go. I love you."

Lin closed her eyes, still barely able to believe what was happening. "I'm not going anywhere if…if you don't want me to."

Korra reached up with one hand and tangled her fingers in Lin's hair. "You really thought I was breaking up with you?"

Lin failed to fight back a sob. "Yes."

"Lin, are you crying?" Korra leaned back, and somehow Lin was able to unwrap her arms from Korra enough to rest her hands on the girl's waist. "You _are _crying." Korra tried to brush the tears away. "I didn't mean to make you sad! Please don't cry." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Lin even though they were starting to get people's attention; in fact, they were near the front desk and maître d' was staring at them in abject horror. "Wait, did you tell me that story about how you didn't actually mess up Air Temple Island because you thought I was too scared to break up with you? And you were trying to make me less scared?"

"Yes." Lin managed to take one hand away from Korra long enough to wipe her eyes, but her other arm was still apparently afraid of losing her and wound itself around Korra's waist. Korra went with it, stepping closer and nuzzling the base of Lin's neck.

"Awww!" Korra gave Lin a squeeze and one of her hands went back to Lin's hair. "I get why you thought I was mad—I shouldn't have been avoiding you—but I'm not, really. It's okay."

Lin took a deep breath. She loved it when Korra played with her hair. "I suppose I should have known better. But I was sure you had heard that rumor."

"I have, but I wasn't scared to break up with you because I don't want to break up with you. I wanted to say 'I love you.' And now that I can say it, I'm going to say it all the time. I love you, I love you, I love you."

Lin couldn't help but laugh. A few minutes ago, she had been thinking of Korra as "somewhat charming in her own clumsy, headstrong way", and this was the epitome of Korra's unique, naïve charm. "Spirits, you're adorable."

"Awww, thanks. And you're awesome."

Lin looked up to see if the maître d' was still staring, and not only did he still look horribly shocked, several customers at their tables were twisted around in their chairs to stare at them. Lin quirked a disparaging eyebrow at some of them; several faces blushed and turned away in shame. "Thank you, Korra. That's sweet of you."

"I don't really want to stop hugging, but I'm still hungry. Can we go finish our food?"

"Mm-hmm." Lin dropped a chaste kiss on Korra's forehead (they were still in public, after all) and slipped a hand into Korra's. They walked back to their table, still garnering a few stares. When Lin slid into her chair, she realized that now that her stomach was no longer churning, she really was hungry, and she had never outgrown her love for fire flakes. "Korra, honey?" She couldn't help but smile a bit as the words left her mouth.

"Yeah?"

"To bring the conversation back to rumors, I think you're about to have some spread about you."

Korra's brow knit. "Huh? What rumors?"

"There were a lot of people looking at us. Although I suppose it's not a rumor if people starts spreading it around that we're in a relationship, seeing as that's true."

Korra's eyes widened. "Oh, man, I wasn't paying attention. Of course people were looking at us…do you think this means I should tell Tenzin?"

Lin grimaced. "Better he hear it from you than from some random citizen."

Korra began giggling. "You may not have damaged Air Temple Island when Tenzin broke up with you, but _he _might damage Air Temple Island when he hears you're dating me!"

"Ugh." Lin massaged her temples again. "That's not a conversation I'm looking forward to." She managed a small smile. "Although compared to the conversation I thought we were going to have, I can't say I'm not especially concerned."

* * *

A/N: I had to write something cute.


End file.
